BENGALURU: A 15th century bronze idol of Lord Mahavishu was unearthed by Customs sleuth at the cargo wing of the Bengaluru Airport hours before being smuggled out to Malaysia after being declared as a new but replica of antique idols. A Tamil Nadu based antique dealer has been arrested in connection with the idol smuggling attempt.
Sources with the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) said the seizure unfolded on Friday evening when the Customs team grew suspicious about a consignment at the cargo bay that was scheduled to be shipped to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They opened the packet to find a three feet tall and well polished statue of Lord Mahavishnu made of bronze. "The exporter had declared it as a newly-made bronze antique replica statue. But as the idol had some key characteristics of an antique piece possibly aged over a few hundred years, our team decided to get it inspected by experts in the field," said an investigating officer.
On Saturday, a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) visited the KIA cargo section and examined the bronze statue of Mahavishnu in the presence of the exporter, who was only identified as a 28-year-old man from Kumbakonam in TN. "We managed to bring in the exporter to Bengaluru through the air courier agency he had booked the statue in Tamil Nadu as we suspected that the Customs team reaching out to him on the consignment would trigger him to flee," the officer added.
Following a thorough inspection at Bengaluru Airport, the ASI team declared that the bronze statue is indeed an antique piece possibly over 500-years-old. Antique idol experts said that the bronze statue could be from the 15 century Vijayanagara period and have been modified to look like a new piece. The young antique dealer was arrested immediately for the smuggling and booked under Section 11 (c) of Customs Act 1962 to export a prohibited item as per the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972 that restricts the sale or export of goods of antique value outside Indian borders.
The suspect was produced before a magistrate in the city on Saturday who remanded him to judicial custody. The Bengaluru Customs team is probing the case further to find if there is involvement of more people in the antique smuggling, sources added.
